MegaSack DRAW - This year's winner is user - rgwb
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I bought a set of new, but 2nd hand, wheels a while ago, which came with a brand new saint cassette which I was chuffed about. Just tried to take the cassette off and it seems that the lockring is well and truly stuck.
I've tried everything I can think of. Anyone got any clever methods for getting the lochring to budge?
Never had one that would not come off.
Use the QR skewer to hold the lock-ring tool in place and use a ring spanner on it....24mm I think....or socket and long bar.
Longest chainwhip you can find on 3rd largest sprocket and push the two apart with the wheel and tyre resting on the ground.
Expect a big bang and all will loosen.
PaulD
Pull harder on the tools?
So you're using a chainwhip and a lockring tool and it just won't budge? If you really can't just force it then you'll have to use some penetrating oil or similar to try to free it up.
Or try making the tools longer - a cheap seatpost/scaffolding/etc is an easy way to add leverage.
You are turning it the right way, i.e. have to hold the cassette still with a chain whip not pushing against the freehub ratchet?
If you're doing it right then put the lockring tool in a vice and turn the chain whip with a bit of scafold pole (or similar) over it.
I'm using molegrips to grip the lockring tool (doesn't have a hole for the QR to fit through. The chainwhip is just a standard one from a fairly basic bike toolkit, always worked ok in the past. It digs right into my hand though, which limits the force I can use without slicing my hand open. Maybe need to invest in a posher chainwhip
Make sure you don't have the qr too tight on it!
put on a pair of gardening gloves.
Oh, and yes defo turning it the right way 🙂
Wrap the chainwhip in a few layers of cloth/old clothes/etc to make it comfortable.
I prefer to have the spanner and chain whip close so you can squeeze them together, when it does go you have less chance of removing knuckle skin on spokes/cassette.
Penetrating oil as above then I find standing 'over' the vertical wheel, ie wheel between your legs allows you to apply more force...When it does finally 'crack' if will be one of the most satisfying sounds in your fettling career 😉
get a lockring tool with a handle on it,and add a lever to said handle ( long tube of steel should do the trick.
Get your heaviest mate to come round. One of you put all your weight on the chainwhip handle and one on the handle of a mahoosive adjustable spanner. Maybe bounce a bit. Worked for me.
Give it a soak of Plus-Gas or red diesel and try again .
Can be quite helpful to get a mate or even the mrs to hold the wheel while you unscrew the lockring
Holding it a the right angle somehow makes it a lot easier 🙂
Well, just been out and tried the old clothes around the chainwhip trick, and the seatpost over the allen key in the locring tool (the molegrips were slipping on it).
And I got the explosion..... but it was my trusty allen key snapping in half...
Allen key?? 😯
Chain whip, cassette tool, Big adjustable wrench, muscle...
use an old chain to make a whip that is attached to something solid. Mine is attached to the work bench.
Use a 12" long adjustable spanner on the lockring tool and make sure the lockring tool is well held in by QR. Set the chain whip directly opposite spanner. Put some gloves on, stand leaning over the wheel so you can push down on the tools to undo, lift the wheel in the air with the tools and then punch it straight back down onto the ground as hard as you can, leaning on the ends of the tools. Repeat as necessary.
Allen key??
+1...stop fannying about and use one of these:
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Put the allen key down and step away from the wheel
use an adjustable spanner or the correct size socket on the lockring tool you won't do it with an allen key it will break 😉
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Oh.... i've just realised... you can use a spanner !!!!!
Damn i was having this issue last week and had a nightmare getting mine off as the Allen key forces it off at an incorrect angle.
My lockring tool gives you no option but to use a spanner!
One of these makes the job easier IMO, it locates much more postively and you can tap it with a mallet to help with sticky lock rings.
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=55936
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Right, going to get a new lockring tool (the one I have is worn where the molgrips were slipping), a new chainwhip that I can extend with something, and some plus gas.
I refuse to be defeated. Thanks for the encouragement. I shall report back.
I use a 2ft bar on my lockring tool - try and get one with a half inch drive socket hole in the end.
before you do anything else fill a small pot with plusgass or any other penetrating oil flip the wheel over an leave the lockring end in to soak over night
a vice is the best option for gripping the lockring tool
If not
put a socket on the end of that tool
preferably a 1/2 drive socket set and 2' breaker bar or bit of scaffold tool
wrap the chain whip tool in tape to bulk out the handle and us a bit of scaffold tube to extend as well
most of all be patient
you could buy yourself a breaker bar and a single socket from Halfrauds or B&Q
Have you tried tightening it? Just enought to break whatever corrosion is holding it in palce.
I've yet to have one that won't come off. Much as above I prefer to squeeze the two handles together.
A longer lever is your friend and for me a breaker bar and socket works on almost everything
Allan key??? WTF did you think the big flats on the end of the tool were for? Step away from the wheel and take it down the bike shop.
Get one of these and use the QR to hold it in place...slower but more secure and longer-living than the one with a central rod.
I bought an original Shimano TL74 in 1998 and it has worked perfectly since.
Does cassettes, screw-on freehubs and centre-lock rotors....bargain.
The ebay reference to UG hubs is a double chainwhip tool as the smallest cog is screwed on like a fixie.
PaulD
Or, do it horizontal 8) put the lockring tool in a vice, sit cassette/wheel in the lockring tool, use chain whip with grrrr. be prepared to end up sitting on the ground when it goes though...
Before you go bananas on a load of new gear, it often helps to give the locking a few firm taps with a hammer and/or heat it up a bit. I often find this encourages it to let go. That said, a chuffing big adjustable spanner on your locking ring tool will go a long way too!
Ha! Bingo!! It turns out that the cassette lockring tool I have actually allows you to remove the allen key fitment so you can instead fit a 1/2" drive wrench. I'd never have even thought about trying to remove it until I saw the posts above.
So I did that, used an old seatpost for leverage as suggested, wrapped the chainwhip in some old rags, and jumped on both tools simultaneously for a good five minutes (all 16st of me) before it finally gave way. The cherry on the cake: I didn't even lose any fingers in the spokes/cassette or smack my face off the tyre. Result!
Give yourselves a collective pat on the back! Thank you all again.